Can I Use ChatGPT to Edit My Essays If I Write Them from Scratch?

Question

I'm considering using ChatGPT to help edit my essays. I plan to write these essays from scratch and will have all my ideas ready to go. Has anyone used ChatGPT for this purpose before? If so, how effective was it in refining your grammar, style, and overall flow of the essay? Also, are there any tips or limitations I should be aware of when using AI for editing? I’d appreciate any insights or experiences you can share.Thanks in advance for your help!

AdmitSure · Answer

Hi @ xxbbxx 
It's wonderful to witness the assistance that ChatGPT offers in writing; however, I advise against solely relying on it for generating ideas for essays. There are several drawbacks to using ChatGPT for this purpose:

The output from ChatGPT may be easily identified as such, potentially undermining the credibility of your application and leading to outright rejection. 
 ChatGPT generates generic ideas, and relying solely on it may result in the loss of your individual voice, which is crucial for essay writing.  
That said, there are certain aspects where the use of ChatGPT can be beneficial:

For refining sentence structure and articulation, you can explore alternatives provided by ChatGPT and make adjustments to ensure the best essay presentation. 
 ChatGPT can help in identifying and rectifying grammatical errors, enhancing the overall quality of your essay. 
 Seeking an assessment of your essay from ChatGPT can provide valuable feedback on whether it effectively addresses the essay prompt.  
 Admitsure
w w w . A d m i t s u r e . c o m

Admissionado · Answer

xxbbxx :

It's fine to have ChatGPT or other such AI tools edit your essays (it's not by any means illegal), so long as the system doesn't completely alter your piece. You should do a before and after comparison. Sometimes ChatGPT makes good adjustments that makes everything flow better. Other times, it can be overly aggressive and makes your writing sound robotic or too generic. Give it a try. If the program oversteps, then revert back to your original piece. You can also pick and choose the parts you like and do not like. It's not as if doing so is irreversible.

To be safe, you are having a professional editor, consultant, or even just a friend to look at your essays.

Given how relatively new this topic is, we're curious to see the feedback from others.

Admisisonado

Admissionado

ExpertsGlobal · Answer

Hi xxbbxx , Thanks for writing in. While we understand that ChatGPT is extremely helpful, we will only discourage you from using it simply because it has the tendency to make your essays generic (in the way they have been written); there is a high possibility that the schools may sense that the essays are not a hundred percent unique. Our suggestion would be to see how much of a difference ChatGPT is making to your essays; once you have ascertained the same, be careful about how you go about making these changes. Ideally, you should be getting in touch with an Admissions Consultant to help review your essays. The following video traces a holistic approach towards writing application essays; please go through it for a better understanding: https://www.expertsglobal.com/a-holisti ... ns-essays/ Should you have any follow up questions, please feel free to get in touch with us. All the best!

MBAGuide · Answer

xxbbxx hope this finds you wellI have a lot of experience experimenting with ChatGPT. When it comes to B-school applications, I think ChatGPT is good only when you: Must check grammar for the pieces you've written. Need help on finding the correct expressions, idioms, and phrases, synonyms, or in other words, the vocabulary. Chatgpt is risky if you want to do complete paraphrases. ChatGPT is not great for coming up with first drafts because: You need to feed the right information, which means you must write the initial drafts and write them well. Experienced evaluators can easily understand when your sentences have been generated or paraphrased by ChatGPT. I have lost count of the times when I called out applicants for using ChatGPT. They think I would not know. Well, if I know, the adcom would also know! ChatGPT kills your original voice, which is the most important part of writing an essay. When your voice is not your own and the evaluator can see through that, they would doubt if the ideas are your own. Get personalized advice tailored to your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process. Reapplying? Get a free ding analysis Best wishes Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer) Founder, MBAGuideConsulting LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

MBADecoder · Answer

I don't thinks its a good idea. 
I have tested ChatGPT and found that:
1. it uses repettive language and excessively uses certain words 
2. Somewhat takes away the soul and vulnerability of the original content. This is primarily important in essays as adcoms want to read your authentic voice. 
3. sometimes alters original statements and the replacements are generic.

Now imagine that in an increasigly competitive admissions space, if many applicants' essays start sounding simular because of the above problems, then it will just lead your essays to merge into the crowd rather than stand out.

Instead, I'd suggest using something like Grammarly that prompts you to make corrections for gramatically correct content.

Namita Garg,  
 Founder,  MBA Decoder  
 www.mbadecoder.com 
 Email:   contact@mbadecoder.com 
 Sign up for  a Free Profile Evaluation

admitStreet · Answer

xxbbxx - to illustrate some of the points mentioned above, I've pasted below two excerpts (while protecting anonymity of the candidate). To give you context, this was for the concluding lines of "Achievement you are most proud of" question within INSEAD Motivation Essay #2: Version 1 (aided by ChatGPT) This achievement strengthened my relationships with my team and partners, showcasing my resilience and ability to overcome adversity. It built lasting bonds and a sense of shared purpose, transforming professional interactions into partnerships of mutual respect and understanding. Version 2 (edited by me & candidate) This achievement strengthened my relationships with my team and partners, and gave me the confidence to invest into gaining the business acumen required to take the product to its rightful heights. I also felt somewhat liberated from my grief and a positive outcome made it all the more worthwhile. You see the difference? As a reader, I (and likely AdCom) can connect more with version 2. Here's why: - "...required to take the product to its rightful heights" talks specifically about their product, and how they feel about it - "...liberated from my grief" links to a very personal incident the candidate had shared at the beginning of the essay - "..made it all the more worthwhile" - this may sound a bit informal, but it helps connect with the candidate at a more personal level Though the candidate had used ChatGPT for an earlier version, they thankfully took my advise. And yes, they received the interview invite. Regards, Arvind Founder, admitStreet | Schedule a free chat W: https://admitstreet.com | LinkedIn | E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com

NextstopISB · Answer

Chatgpt will be helpful, even i used chatgot, you can modify accordingly once you get the output

bhargavhhhhhhhh · Answer

Yes you can use multiple available ai's like chatgpt, deepseek, gemini and compare , modify accordingly

Gmat750aspirant · Answer

Yes you can use chatgpt, and take the insight from councellor

SarfrazAP · Answer

While it's a great idea in theory, you need loads of "human intelligence" to make sure that the final content doesn't end up sound too AI-written. Keep in mind that to you the content will look absolutely fine, but to someone who is reading through scores of essays every day (like the Adcoms do or a lot of us do as well), AI written stuff just stands out. On a lighter note, I see some posts here on GMATClub itself that I strongly suspect were written by AI. It's just too obvious

MBADecoder · Answer

Lol, I absolutely agree. And, to prove the point, they sound robotic.

TheRedPen · Answer

Hi,

Your approach—writing the essays from scratch and using ChatGPT for refinement—is a great strategy! Many applicants have found AI useful for: 
  How ChatGPT Helps:  
 ✅  Grammar & Clarity  – Fixes errors and enhances readability.
✅  Concise & Impactful Writing  – Helps remove fluff and sharpen key points.
✅  Structural Flow  – Ensures logical progression between ideas.
✅  Tone Adjustment  – Aligns your voice with a professional and engaging style. 
  Tips & Limitations:  
 ⚡  Personal Touch Matters  – AI can refine but shouldn’t replace your authentic voice.
⚡  Context Awareness  – ChatGPT may not fully grasp nuanced or deeply personal stories, so always review its suggestions.
⚡  School-Specific Fit  – Double-check that the essay still reflects your specific motivations and aligns with the school’s culture.
⚡  Human Review  – Have a mentor or admissions expert provide final feedback. 
  Best Practice:  Use ChatGPT iteratively—first for grammar & structure, then refine manually to keep your voice intact. It’s a great tool, but your authenticity is what will truly make the essay stand out!

JatinBhandari1 · Answer

Quick disclaimer: I am an admissions consultant and have been helping applicants crack top schools for the past 18+ years. Naturally, these days, a lot of people start by asking me whether admissions consulting — MBA admissions consulting or any form of admissions consulting — would still be relevant in the world of AI, and what value a human touch or an experienced consultant would bring to the admissions process. I am glad I stumbled upon this post, as I really want to tell people what a very experienced admissions consultant can do to a storyline and to an essay that ChatGPT or any other AI tool cannot.

1. An AI tool cannot identify a weak tangent the way an experienced professional can.
Let me give you an example. I was recently working on a contribution essay for London Business School with an applicant who sent me a very well-crafted essay — everything super polished. To him, it looked like the final version, and he thought I would be making micro changes. But I had to reject all of his contributions. Not because the writing was bad, but because over nearly two decades I have built an understanding of what kind of contributions actually work for London Business School — what the right litmus test is to identify whether a contribution is strong enough, and what kind of contribution the school would truly value from an international student who has never worked outside his home country. How will an applicant like that show something meaningful?
The risk with AI-generated essays is that they sound polished but generic. And if the applicant does not have the capability to judge whether the right litmus test is being passed by the contribution, then on what basis would the applicant change the narrative or deepen what that contribution actually means?
And this is not just about essays. There are so many situations and questions in a business school application where this kind of depth matters. Take recommendation letters, for example. Most applicants help their recommenders identify strengths and weaknesses to write about — and this is where things get very tricky. When a school like Wharton or Ross asks your recommender, "What are some of the weaknesses of this applicant?" — you need to write weaknesses that do not damage your entire case but still tell a very authentic story. There is a very fine art to this. You need weaknesses that feel real, that show self-awareness, but that do not make the admissions committee question whether you belong in their program.

Now, if a human being has worked on literally thousands of recommendation letters — has seen the same weaknesses play out across various categories of industries and functions — they know exactly what works and what does not. They know which weaknesses come across as genuine growth areas and which ones raise red flags. They know how to connect a weakness to a larger narrative of development without making it sound rehearsed. They know, for instance, that a weakness framed one way can make an applicant look coachable and self-aware, while the same weakness framed slightly differently can make them look like a liability. AI does not have that calibration. AI can give you a grammatically perfect, well-structured weakness — but it does not know whether that weakness will quietly kill your candidacy or strengthen it. Only someone who has seen how admissions committees react to thousands of these across schools, industries, and applicant profiles can make that call.

I want you to think about this disconnect — only an experienced consultant can look at something and say, "What am I comparing this against?" If I have an essay or a recommendation draft in front of me, my baseline built over the last two decades tells me whether this is weak — and I can think of 27 different things where I say, "I want to take this in a completely different direction."

2. A strong written critique takes the AI help to the next level.
I also realised that when I gave a very strong, detailed written critique on these essays, the applicants would go back to AI, insert my critique, and use it to generate stronger ideas. That is how they made very effective use of AI tools — to build essays to the next level. The whole point I am trying to make is that AI is deep and powerful, but it can only work with what you ask it to bring forth. If you as an applicant do not know the drawbacks or limitations of your current essay, then no matter what prompt you give, you are just going to generate a machine-polished version of a weak essay.

It takes a good consultant maybe five minutes to look at an essay and say, "This does not fit the bill." And then that consultant can come back with specific reasons — "The depth is missing here, this angle is off, these specific areas need reworking." The applicant uses those inputs, brainstorms, and comes back with a stronger version. The same applies to recommendations — a consultant can look at a weakness your recommender has written and immediately say, "This will hurt you. Change it." That level of school-specific, profile-specific judgement is not something you can prompt out of any AI tool.
Otherwise, getting into the rabbit hole of AI when you do not know whether the critique fits the bill or not — that can take you in a very, very wrong direction.

3. If everyone is using AI, how will schools differentiate?
Everyone is using AI. If every applicant is creating well-polished essays for business schools using AI, then on what basis would the school differentiate between strong applicants? One of two things can happen. One, schools will completely abolish the essay process and move towards something more human — like video essays, or interviewing more and more people — because they no longer trust written content. Or two, the expectations of a business school from an essay will significantly go up — the level of depth, the originality of insight, the extent of meaning one has to generate will all need to be far stronger.

AI is a very, very strong tool — but you can use it effectively only if you understand what the missing angle is.

AdmitExpert · Answer

You should not use AI, as AdComs can sense an AI-written essay/SOP, even if AI detection tools cannot accurately detect the AI percentage, as AdComs go through so many SOPs that they develop a knack for gauging whether a draft is written by AI or not. It's best to write it yourself and go through some reviews by your peers or an experienced consultant rather than using AI.

Furthermore, AI tools are not useful in helping you draft stories and narratives for application essays. This is mostly built from your personal and professional experiences and a thorough understanding of the school's requirements by speaking with alumni and consultants who have gone through the process themselves.

AdComs will look closely at the leadership, impact, and complete story you present through your application.  
 You can connect with us for a  free 1:1 profile evaluation  by experienced alumni and consultants for a better understanding of the process.

Can I Use ChatGPT to Edit My Essays If I Write Them from Scratch?

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